is the father and furtherer of War and revenge It divesteth God of his Office God alone knowes how to punish our enemies without passion and inequality It makes him in stead of a Judge only an Executioner It takes the sword out of Gods hand and drives him from his dominion What difference makes it between the party prâ—voking and provoked save that the last is last in the offence against God both are equally displeasing to him whose Law is by both broken and supposing that our enemy hath deserved to be hated why hath God deserved to be disobeyed Nor doth revenge less oppose our own welfare then Gods pleasure The Divel by this sin bereaves a man of his reason and like a bird of prey which seizing upon a dead Carkass first pecks out its eyes he blinds his understanding and then leads him into what wickedness he pleaseth By revenge we lose all that good which we might get even by injuries Holy patience turnes every injury thrown at us into a precious stone and makes it an addition to our Crown Qui injuriam patitur magis dolere debet de peccato injuriantis quam de injuriâ sibi allatâ He who hath received an injury if wise to improve it hath received a fauour a reward and it s against the rule of Justice to return evil for good What madness is it because our enemy hath done us wrong to do our selves more because he hath hurt our bodies to damn our souls that we may kill our enemies Ass his body to kill our selves that we may tear his garmentâ— to lose our own lives What unmanly folly is it to hate those in their sickness or madness whom we love in their health to hate those wronging us whom we would love when they do us good When our enemies are most unkind they shew more distemper in themselves then they do hatred to us and therefore deserve more pity then opposition What greater cruelty then to cut and wound one who is dead I mean Spiritually What more ridiculous then because one hath taken a way something from us therefore to throw away all that is left behind because he hath stoln away our Cloak or twenty Pounds therefore to throw our coat or whole Inheritance into the sea When one hath taken from us the cloak of our good name Ridiculum est odio nocentis innocentiam perdere Senec. or a little of our worldly estate how wild a folly is it therefore to throw away by revenge the beautiful garment of our Innocency yea the inheritance of Heaven It s ridiculous for the hatred of him that hurt us to cast away that which never hurt will alwayes be helpful to us and because we are bereaved of something which we had our goods therefore to throw away all we are our souls What madness comparable to that whereby in our prayers we daily powre forth curses against in stead of requests for our selves Who would not think him weary of his life who being struck by one whom he knowes to be full of Leprosie and Plague sores will spend his time in grapling and contending with him again None can avenge himself upon another without Spiritual defilement and Infection and which is most inexcusable that malice for which he is so much enraged against another he loves in himself The empty transitory though reproachful expression of his brother he layes to heart but the sword of revenge with which the Divel endeavours to kill him he contemns and disregards In a word what temper is more childish then that of revenge whereby like children men desire and delight to strike that thing which hurt them It s folly to beat the Instrument which wounded us our wisdome it is to labour that the wound which is given us may be healed and sanctified Yea there is more of brutishness then manliness when we are kick'd to kick again Nothing more honours a man then the overcoming of revenge He who can master his own revengeful heart hath a spirit truly noble and fit to govern others Upon Davids sparing of Saul wisely did Saul say thus to David The Lord hath delivered me into thy hands 1 Sam. 24.18 20 and thou killedst me not And now behold I know well that thou shalt be King He only hath something supernatural in Charity who requites evil with good who loves his enemies doth good to them that hate him wearyeth them with patience and writes after a heavenly Copy Matth. 5.14 More of this Part 1. pag. 131 132. 6. Observ ult The consideration of our having a God to whom we may commit our cause is the best meanes to make us patient under wrongs Michael was a servant to a great Lord and to him he appeals and layes the controversie before him The Lord rebuke thee There would be more bearing in the world were there more believing Did we look more upon him that is Invisible we should less regard the evils which we see and feel Walk before me saith God to Abraham and be perfect Nothing either of pleasure or pain will seem great to him in whose eye there is this great Lord. The greatest prop in opposition is to have a God to fly unto The greatest loss for him shall be made up again by him When David considered that God was his portion Psal 16.4 5. he abhorred to go to other Subterfuges They who believe they have a God to right them will not wrong themselves so much as to revenge their own wrongs God they know will do it as more equally so more beneficially And the true reason why there is no more willingness either to forbear any sin or to bear any sorrow is because we think not of this great Lord so as either to fear or trust him They who can call God Father may with Christ pray concerning their enemies Forgive them They who can see heaven opened and Christ at the right hand pleading for them may with Steven â—ead for their enemies and pray Lord lay not this sin to their charge VER 10. But these speak evil of those things which they know not but what they know naturally as brute beasts in those things they corrupt themselves IN this verse our Apostle accommodates and applies the comparison of Michael the Archangel or further shewes wherein the holy and humble carriage of Michael did make the sin of these Seducers appear more sinful and abomnable The Angel was a Creature not only of the greatest created Might and Power but also of Wisdom and Understanding and knew what the Divel was nameâ—y a wicked Creature and destined by God to eternal perdition accurately also he understood that the cause wherein he contended with the Divel was Just and righteous he knowing the pleasure and will of God concerning the hiding of Moses his Sepulcher but these saith he speak evil of what persons and things they know not are outragious though ignorant active though blind And this want of due
God tempted Christ to worship him Order is the beauty and safety of places They who are weary of it are weary of their owne happiness But of this more before in Part 1. page 638 5. Observ 5. The divel is an hurtful spirit His work is to do mischief his name Divel speaks him a Destroyer and wounder of names and all his names import mischievousness He and his angels are called Cacodaemons Evil Angels frequently in Scripture Evil Spirits not evil only in regard of the bad which is in them but also of the hurt which is done by them The Divel is Abaddâ—n Rev. 9 11. Perdition he is perdition or destruction it self not only Passively but even Actively also and as we call a wicked man scelus wickedness for most wicked so is the Divel call'd perdition or destruction it self because he is the chief Rev. 9 11. cruel skilful industrious Destroyer seeking whom he may deuour compassing the earth as a Fouler doth the tree where the bird sits or as Besiegers do a City to plant murdering Engines He seeks not whom to scratch bite or wound but whom to destroy devour swallow up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 5.8 To Abaddon is added his name in the Greek whereby he is also noted to be acrue destroyer Apollyon He is in Scripture called a murderer an old bloody one such from the beginning Compared also to a Lyon a Serpent Râ—v 12.3 a Dragon a red bloody fiery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dragon He is bloudy in being thirsty after and imbrued in blood in all the blood of the Saints since the beginning of the world His Works prove him more hurtful then his Names Hurtful he is to the bodies of men These he hath often possessed counting the tormenting of them all his pleasure and ejection out of them his torment These he hath thrown into fiâ—e and water cutting also and wounding â—hem rending them when compelled to leave them Hâ—mâ— malâ—â—â—elam Dâ—abâ—â— by his instruments wicked men his weapons martâ—ring mangling and murdering them from Abel till now afflicting them with noâ—som and destructive diseases Hurtful to the Estates of men by tempests winds fires as appears by his dealing with Jâ—b whom he made both in body and estate his very anvil upon which he laid all his angry and cruel strokes Hurtful he is to the souls of men either tempting to corrupting in or else tormenting or afrighting them for sin Hurtful to the name he is by slanders and false accusations They who are freed from consuming by the former shall not escape totally from sindging by this latter Where he cannot devour with the mouth of the sword he will wound by the sword of the mouth Where he cannot strike with his hand he will spit with his mouth and bite with his teeth And lastly the properties of his hurtfulness shew it more then its workings for he is anciently hurtful he began many thousand years ago with the first man How hurtfull do we account that thief and murderer who hath been mischievous for some few years No Muderer so old an one as Satan He is maliciously hurtful not being so by accident or beside his intention but aiming to be so He kils none by chance-medly but all his Murders are wilful 't is his meat and drink his recreation his only ease if he could be said to have any His hurtfulness is incessant his trade his work as well as his 〈◊〉 He cannot give over this Employment 't is his Element nor can he any more live without it then a fiâ—h out of the water He is restless in sin When he is not in places where he may do much hurt he is said to walk through dry places a baâ—reâ— un-inhabitable wilderness and there he finds no rest his only rest is an hurtful motion A sinner sleeps not till he sin but the Divel alway sins and never sâ—eeps he is a vigâ—lant Dragon He never rested one moment since the beginâ—â—ng of the world As he never wanted so he never would have rest he hath no Holy-dayes He gos up and down continually seeking whom he may devour Upon the Sabbath as much as nay more then other dayes and he never doth more hurt then when he seems to do least nay when he seems to do most good He is universally hurtful in respect of the Object he is hurtful in intention at least to all mankind to good and bad to his enemies yea his friends to the former because the less he can the more he would do The more God loves the more he hates and labours to hurt as in all the forementioned respects He had rather find one Pearle then a thousand pibbles Oh how sweet to him is the fal of a Peter a David a Noah the bloud of a Stephen a Paul a Godly Minister He winnowes the best wheat most and beats the tree most that bears the best fruit Our great Lord himself must not go without his marks Nay he is hurtful to his owne greatest friends Those he hurts most who serve him most A cruel Master that wounds and starves all his slaves wounds the conscience wears out the body Sinners are his hackneys whom he whips and spurs all the day of Life and at night he lodgeth them worse then in the day he used them Never suffers he them to feed upon one morsel of the bread of Life gives nothing but wind and wormwood vanity and vexation Lastly he is skilfully hurtful he is skilful to destroy and hath an equal mixture of the Lion and the Serpent He hath seven heads Revel 12.3 and many devices in them all Elimas ful of all subtilty and mischief Acts 13.10 is aptly therefore called the child of the Divel Our worst enemy sometimes comes to us as our best friend He disguiseth his person like the Gibeonites that so he may get within us He seemed to Eve to be more friendly then God himself He oft seems to compassionate the sinner to the profane he propounds an easie loose Religion to the Proud he suggests the unfitness of suffering himself to be trampled on c. He never kisseth but 't is to kill and this Crocodile never sheds tears but 't is to shed blood He chuseth his fittest times for his tentations as in time of conversing in bad company so he set upon Peter in time of solitariness so he set upon Christ and Joseph In times of trouble of conscience then he suggests we are hypocrites like Simeon and Levi who killed the Shechemites in their soreness In times of security and ease so he set upon David like enemies who fal upon one anothers Quarters in their mid-night sleep If he cannot hinder from good he can blemish it by sinful meanes an undue manner a bad end He can by a thousand Arts disparage a holy Duty to those that behold it if he doth not mar it in the performance This hurtfulness of the Divel shewes whom they resemble that are
the Jewes against Christ Act. 6.11 and Stephen And 2. By receiving of evil reports against them from others when in stead of driving away a back-biting tongue with an angry countenance Prov. 25.23 as the North wind driveth away rain we encourage and cherish evil speakers by our receiving what defamations they bring us still to steal from the good names of others when though we set not our neighbours name on fire yet we stand and gladly warm our hands by it when we see it set on fire 2 The sin of evil speaking may be in his presence or to his face and then its either meeking or railing 1 Mocking is when a disgraceful taunt or gird is given to another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Gen. 37.19 the brethren of Joseph scoffingly called him Dreamer the children 2 King 2.23 called Elisha Bald-pate and so in Babylon they mock at the Israelites for their Hebrew songs Psal 137 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rayling is properly when any sin or wickedness is objected as Murder Uncleanness Sedition Thus Shimei called David a bloody man and a man of Belial and the Heathens called the Christians Incestuous enemies to the State c. The third particular in this first branch viz. what Michael did forbear to do is the sinfulness of bringing this Judgment of railing or evil speaking And this appears 1. In regard of God It s a wickedness eminently injurious to him it s strictly prohibited by him Mat. 7.1 Lev. 19.16 Col. 3.8 Eph. 4.3 James 4.11 Severely threatned punished 2 Kin 2.32 2 Kings 2.23 It audaciously invades the seat and room of God himself taking his office out of his hands who is the Judge of heaven and earth and from our standing before the judgement seat of Christ the Apostle argues strongly against the judging of others Rom. 14.10 Judge nothing saith the Apostle before the time 1 Cor. 4.5 And what hath any man to do to judge another mans servant and when we speak evil a gainst any for his holiness we most of all speak evil against him who is the Author of that holiness Yea this sin of reviling and evil-speaking is contrary to the course and carriage of God who approves of the wayes of his people highly esteems of their graces accepts and rewards their weak endeavours he pleads for his Saints acquits them answers accusations brought against them and pronounces a righteous sentence upon them he cals Nathaneel a true Israelite Paul an Elect vessel c. 2. In regard of those who hear these evil speakings Hearers commonly do both willingly and hurtfully hear others defamed It damps and destroys in them the love of their Brethren It s a draught though of sweet yet of deadly poyson given in at the ear It layes a stumbling-block before the blind by abusing and falsly or unduly informing the ignorant to whom the defamation is reported It hath separated chief friends 3. In regard of the Party who is guilty of evil-speaking This sin speaks his madness and folly so as he may destroy his Neighbours name he adventures to damn his own soul so as he may make others think ill of him whom he hatâ—s he cares not how deeply he himself incurs the wrath of God so as he may but kill one by defaming hm he cares not though in the doing thereof he destroyes thousands by infecting them He is like one who will blow in a heap of dust though thereby he puts out his own eyes truly said Solomon Prov. 10.18 He that uttereth slander is a fool True Religion cannot consist with such a course If any man seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue that mans Religion is vain Jam. 1.26 A good man cannot be an evil speaker This sin of evil-speaking is the disgrace of the evil-speaker It s a practice of the Old man unbeseeming and to be layd off by Christians that profess new life as sordid rags Col. 3.8 An evil-speaker is the Divels eldest son he bears his name his mouth is the Divels vessel which he fils with the water of cursing he is the Divels tooth dens Diaboli to bite men he is a Pedlar furnisht with wares by the Divel to vend and put off in the world for him he scatters perfumes to delight him Detrectore Diabolo thurisicant Pera. d. p. 320. he tels tales to make him merry he more defiles his own heart and tongue then his Neighbours name he is by some not unfitly compared to a Butchers Dog taught by his Master not to touch the good and choyce pieces of flesh in the shop but the filthy offal or any putrified pieces he greedily and eagerly devours by others to Swine who if they come into a Garden in one part whereof grow a thousand sweetly fragrant flowers and in a corner whereof is laid an heap of dung delight more to be groveling in the dung then smelling on the flowers or who go not to the flowers to smel but to root them up They rake in the faults and infirmities of others their graces they abhor as much to observe as they do to imitate like Owles in the dark they see in the sun-shine they are blind This evil speaking is a soul-disquieting sin it wears out whets out the heart with vexation Envy the mother of calumnie is the saw of the soul an evil speaker is his own scourge Invidia animae scrra Miserable is his life who placeth his content in anothers unhappiness in stead of his own happiness To conclude it 's a God-provoking sin punish'd frequently in this life by defamations a payment in its own coyn troubles law-contentious losse of estate and often life as appears in the death of the 42 children 2 King 2.23 of Shimei the leprosie of Miriam c. He who casts up the stones of reproaches will crack his own crown But certainly without repentance destructive eternally excluding from the kingdome of God 1 Cor. 6.10 God will reprove in his wrath if we reproach with our words Psal 50.19 20. when we have done with our speech our speech hath not done with us 4. In respect of him who is spoken against evil speaking is a sin of the greatest cruelty it takes away that which is better then honour riches yea life and such a good which being stolen away cannot be recompensed because its worth cannot be estimated Evil speaking buries the dear and precious name the throat of the evil speaker being herein an open sepulchre At the best it deals with men as the Ammonites with Davids servants it takes away half their names cuts their reputation off at the midst and commonly they who are defamed in some one respect are suspected and slighted upon every occasion one flie marres the whole pot of ointment And one defamation wil be sooner believed though reported but by one never so unworthy of credit then a commendation though confirmed by the joynt suffrages of an hundred faithfull witnesses
eleventh verse whom he rather mentions then any others in regard of their great hurtfulness to the Church by cruelty seduction and sedition they being the types and forerunners of these Seducers 2. From sundry elegant comparisons ver 12 13 3. From the certain and infallible Prophecy of Enoch propounded and amplified ver 14 15 16. This eleventh verse then consists of these two parts 1. A Denunciation of Wo and Judgment 2. An Amplification thereof from the three forementioned examples of Cain Balaam Core 1. The Denunciation of Judgment in these words Wo unto them EXPLICATION It may be demanded In what sense the words Wo unto them are here used and how to be understood The uttering of this word Wo denoting in Scripture grievous calamities and miseries either present or approaching is used three waies 1. Vae condolentis imprecantis praedicentis There is vae dolentis and condolentis when woe is used as an Exclamation of grief pity and commiseration and then it imports as much as if the Apostle had said Alas how am I grieved in consideration of their approaching ruine for these wretched sinners that are running to their own destruction and thus the word wo is often taken in Scripture as Mich. 7.1 where the Church resenting the general corruption of the times and her smal number cryes out Wo is me for I am as when they have gathered the Summer fruits as the gleanings of the Vintage The good man is perished out of the earth and there is none upright among men Thus also the Prophet Isaiah chap. 24.16 laying to heart the wickedness of the people and the Judgments which were to follow expresseth his holy sympathy in these words Wo unto me the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously c. Thus the same Prophet again chap. 6.5 Then said I Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips c. for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts c. So Jer. 4.41 and 6.4 Jer. 13.27 and 45.3 Lam. 5.16 Now though it cannot be denyed but that the faithful do and ought with holy commiseration to lay to heart the miseries of others yet I understand not this expression of wo in this place in this sense for besides that Jude knew that these Seducers were ungodly men and appointed to this condemnation his scope was not to express his sorrow for them but to warne the Church of them by discovering the Judgements of God against them 2. There is vae imprecantis a wo of cursing and imprecation used sometimes by Godly men against the implacable and irrecoverable enemies of God Thus the Prophet Habakkuk utters it against the Caldean who wasted the Church Hab. 2.6 9 12 15 19. Psal 40 14 15 59.14 Thus David Psal 109.6 7 8 9 c. prayeth for the destruction of his enemies That the Apostles had this power of cursing the incurable enemie of the Church whose destruction the Lord had extraordinarily revealed to thâ—â—â—nd that they used it is very evident Paul prayeth 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 4.14 that the Lord would reward Alexander the Copper-smith according to his work And its hard to deny Non dicit Apostolus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reddet sol 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reddat Sunt vota imprceantis non verba praedicentis Rivet in Psal 40. that Jude in this place doth put forth that power against these Seducers Sure I am Paul Gal. 5.12 prayeth that the false Teachers might be cut off who troubled the Church and he who enabled the Apostles to foreknow the ruine of Seducers certainly without error might help them to desire it holily without revenge And never did either Christ or his Apostles express so much heavenly vehemency against any as against those who hindred the eternal salvation of souls witness the woes eight times repeated by Christ against the Scribes and Pharisees Matt. 23. As also Pauls carriage towards Elimas the Sorcerer Acts 13. Some indeed of this impious rabble who were not so obstinate malicious and subtle as others Jude might spare he desiring the Christians afterward that on some they should have compassion putting a difference And if it be here demanded How the Apostle could lawfully say Wo unto them I answer 1. He expresseth not this wo unto them in respect of his own cause but the cause of God not as they were his but Gods enemies 2. He directs not his imprecations against persons curable but incurable and he might know them to be so by some extraordinary inspiration 3. His affections herein were not carnal but Divine and Spiritual stirred up purly by Zeal to Gods glory and the safety of the Church In a word If this wo here pronounced by Jude were a wo of imprecation he was carryed to the uttering thereof by the same Spirit by which he penned the Epistle 3. There is a vae praedicentis a Wo of prediction and denunciation whereby imminent and impendent evils are foretold and denounced against others and in this sense it s â—â—â—monly used and uttered in Scripture Eccles 4.10 Eccles 10.16 Isai 3.9.11 28.1 30.1 31.1 Hos 9.12.24 Matth. 24.19 and most commonly by the Prophets Isai 3.11 Wo unto the wicked for it shall be ill with them Isai 5.8 Wo unto them that joyn house to house c. And ver 11. Wo to them that rise early in the morning that they may follow strong drink Matth. 24.19 Wo to them that be with child and give suck in those dayes c. And this sense though some Learned men exclude not that which was last mentioned we may safely admit in this place our Apostle concluding that undoubtedly they who were as bad as the worst of former sinners in respect of sin should be as miserable as they were in regard of punishment OBSERVATIONS 1 Spiritual and eternal woes Obser 1. are the true woes To be woful indeed is to be under the wrath of God This is the wo here by Jude denounced against and by God inflicted upon these Seducers Whatever wo comes without Gods wrath may have more of weal in it then of woe Other woes touch the skin these the soul Other woes part between us and our Estates names worldly comforts but these between us and God in whom is laid up all happiness How foolish is every sinner to fear the name the shadow and not to tremble at the thing the reality of woe like the beast who is more affrighted with the flash of the fire and the noise of the report which is made in shooting off the Gun then with the fear of the bullet Eternal woes come with less noise and therefore with more neglect then others They kill though they do not affright The fear which Christ commands is of him who kils the soul Of this more Part 1 p. 282. What proportion of misery is there between the souls leaving the body and Gods leaving the soul Bodily miseries are but opinionative and appearing
written in the heart can command and change the heart and destroy in it the love and propension to sin Here is clearly applicable that of the Psalmist Psal 114 5 What ailed thee Oh thousea that thou fleddest thou Jordan that thou wert driven back ye mountains that ye skipped like Rams and ye little hills like Lambs The answer is Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord. Who but God can stop the Sun in its career and make it go backward Who but he can stop a Saul in his Journey and make him go back as well in heart as in body and become more earnest in praying then ever now he was in persecuting The Church complaing that she was as a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoak Jer. 31.18 aptly adds Turn thou me and I shall be turned The giving of a clean heart is a work of Creation Create it in me saith David Nor is the Goodnesse of God herein less observable then his Power How great is that love which doth us good against our wills and turned us when we were running greedily to our own destruction when we regarded the perswasions of men no more then doth the wild Ass as Job speaks the cry of the Driver When all the means which friends parents Job 39.7 Ministers could use to reclaim us were lost upon us nay we much worse as was the woman in the Gospel by going to the Physician then what love was it nay was it not for Christ to teach to touch the heart and to turn us when we had run even to Hel gates Nor was the smartest dispensation the most unpleasing stop the most pricking thorny hedg any other then an unspeakable mercy that hindred thee from finding thy way to Hell and running greedily to thine own damnation How much better was it to be diverted then damned 7. They who strive to hinder sinners in their course Observ 7. are like to meet with unkind returnes of opposition Till God turnes their hearts how angry are men with stops and vexed that bridges are broken down when they are running greedily and marching furiously All the hatred which Ministers meet with is because they would stop sinners in their way to hell and will not suffer them to be at peace when they are going on to eternal paines Never did any meet with so many cruel and bloody contradictions from sinners as he who in his life Doctrin and death did most oppose sin Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth saith Paul He who was sent to turn people from Satan to God had all the rage of people and Satan turned against him Hatred saith Luther is the Genius of the Gospel Sauls Javelin followed Davids Musick It s very likely that he who is quiet among sinners suffers them to be quiet in sin We should pity sinners though nay because they oppose us if we turn them they will love and thank us and whensoever they come to be their own friends they will be ours However the Lord will reward even unsuccessful faithfulness and to be sure we can much better bear hatred from the wicked for doing then from God for neglecting our duty 8. Observ 8. The best way by which to try our sin cerity is willingness to be stopt in any way in which our lusts would make us run most greedily If sinners run greedily and violently after their Lusts then none but Saints can rejoice when they are stopt in the prosecution of them and bless God as David did for Abigails counsel when they are hindred in any sinful career God promiseth to his Elect a thorny hedg Hos 2.6 if they will be gadding and they look upon it as a singular mercy they being thereby turned back to their first husband Only the people of God love that preaching which most opposeth their Lusts and that Angel most or Messenger of God which stands with the drawn Sword of the Word to hinder them in their unlawful journey Exangue nobile quoddam Martyrii genus The patient and thankful enduring of stops and stroaks when we are sinning is a very Noble though a bloodless Martyrdom a true note of true grace 9 Observ 9. Men have most cause to suspect their courses are is bad when swift When they run greedily that they run wickedly when they run fast that they run wrong When we are in any way of God commonly we do but go or rather creep but in the way of sin after the Error of Balaam we are ready to run and that greedily too we are here carryed with wind and tide our own inclinations and Satans impulsions the Jewes cryed out against Christ they not so much as whispering against Barabbas It was misguided Zeal when the Disciples desired that fire might come down from heaven When ever we are furious in any March we should fear that we are in Balaams Journey I mean we ought to suspect the goodness of that undertaking wherein we are most violent and to doubt that we are sailing to a wrong Port when with a full gale and a strong tide A smooth if a false way should not delight us nor should a rugged if a right way dishearten us It s no sign thou pleasest God or speakest the Truth because men do not oppose thee in what thou dost or sayest We must be wiser then either Christ or his Apostles if we have got the skil to please the most in doing that which is best The peaceableness of sinners is but impiety not opposed Rather should I hope that what I do is right when wicked men most rage and roar against me for doing it When the Divel roars saith Luther it s a sign I have struck him right that is good which Satan hates To conclude this Embrace no opinion because it is maintained with multitudes and violence Fire and faggot of old were but weak arguments to prove the truth of Transubstantiation As strong passions destroy a good so do they not seldom discover a bad cause 1 Cor. 4.19 Non vociferatio sed ratio Paul resolved to know not the speech but the power of them who were puffed up The worship of Diana is cryed up with more rage then that of the true God is advanced with Zeal 10 Observ 10. Little do they who run down the hill know where they shall stop These Seducers poured forth themselves to the utmost Who knows in what a sad agreement the very Parley and Treaty with any Lust may end The more modest motions which it makes at first may end in an excessive immoderate pouring forth and a profuse spending of what we have and are our time estates yea strength of body and soul and all which is in our power to bestow upon it Men foolishly may think that when they have gone thus or thus far they will go no further and stop at their pleasure and that their Lusts will grow dry as he in
a flood by the denunciation of a day of judgment they scoffingly enquiring where is the promise of his coming 2 Pet. 3. They look upon examples of judgment as fables or nothing at all concerning them the examples of divine patienâ—e they boldly turn into presumption with Lamech Gen. 4.4 If Cain be to be avenged seven fold surely Lamech seventy and seven fold Justinian in loc 2. They speak against him in speaking against the persons of others their governors and superiors they reproach and speak evil of dignities Of which largely ver 8. Though they allowed not the Magistrate to use the sword against them yet did they abuse that which was sharper then a sword against him Against private Christians they spake 1. boastingly and proudly And thus Psal 31.18 Davids enemies spake hard things proudly and Psal 94.4 they spake hard things and boast themselves namely by threatning such things which were grievous to be born insufferable and insupportable they herein resembling the waves of the sea which in their proud swelling seem to threaten the swallowing up of ships and shore 2. They speake hard things against Christians by slandering and defaming them cassing undue aspersions upon them 1 Pet. 4.4 because these could not find they made and minted many accusations against them and that both by uttering those things against them which were false and evil as also by uttering true things after a false and sinful manner as by blazing of secret infirmities amplifying offences beyond their due proportion lessning and depraving the good which was in or done by them perverting and destroying the sense and meaning of their words 3. They speak hard things against Christians by censuring and judging them they uncharitably passed sentence against their persons and practices voicing the former to be hypocrites because they would not be prophane and to have no more then because they had so much as the appearance of holiness they judged harshly of their future estate and of those actions which to these censurers were unknown for they spake evil of what they knew not they ever judged the worst 4. They spake hard things by mocking and deriding the godly the holy strictness and preciseness of the Saints occasioned their scorn These libertines derided them as if they had made an idol of conscience because they durst not run wiâ—h them to the same excess of riot They turned the glory of holy men into shame for that which made the godly more then men they abused them as children Luke 23.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As in likelihood those sturdy Gyants in Enochs time scoffed both at his purity and predictions so did these sensual monsters mock at the Christians both for their being such manner of persons and also for the motive of their being so the promise of the coming of Christ to judgment OBSERVATIONS Obs 1. 1. The excellency of any way or persons exempts them not from hard words Even Christ himselfe hath hard words utterd against him Christ endured and therefore he had the Contradiction of sinners Where wicked men cannot finde they will make a cause to speak against Christ and rather then they will have none at all this shall be it that they can finde none The good word of the ungodly is no Commendation to the commended what evill have I don said one to a wicked man that thou shouldst speak well of me A man is much known by those who accompany and commend him the Commendation of sinners since Christ had their Contradiction should rather make thee suspect then sooth thy selfe If thou wilt be like Christ in being holy thou must be like him in being disgraced Expect not to have the good word of sinners nor be troubled for wanting it In short let us not think the worse of Christ or his wayes because they meet with the unkinde word of the world rather let us be so experimentally acquainted with the worth and goodnesse of both that we may be able to confute the hard words of the wicked to say we have found Christ good when others shal give him hard words nay that we may be the more incited to speak for Christ the more ungodly men speak against him To conclude let us be harsh to our lusts and to our sinfull natures and be sensible of the harshnesse and hurtfulnesse of sin and then we shall both account Christ good and speak good not hard words of him 2. Obser 2. A wicked tongue is rugged harsh grating It speaks hard things It is not made of bone nor is there a bone in it as some observe but yet it utters words that are harder then bones yea sharper than swords It hath made incurable gashes in the name the poyson latent in and vented by the tongue is deadly The mockings of the tongue are call'd cruell Many men have adventurd to lose their lives rather than they would endure the rugged and unpleasing expressions of the tongue Reproaches are like the living Coals of Juniper which burne hotest and some say they may be kept a whole year Psal 120.4 The tongue like fire though it be a good servant is a bad master The Unicorns horne is very salubrious and beneficiall when the apothecary useth it in his shop but very hurtfull when upon the head of that fierce and wilde creature Hence we should be warned to take heed of having a tongue hurtfull to others as also to labour to shâ—eld our selves with innocence and patience against this cruelly cutting instrument and to finde that the ruggednesse and harshnesse of others tongues may be onely as a file or wisp to take away the rust and filth of our corruption remembring that even the best Saints oft want the rubber of a sinners tongue to make them clean and that they may make as good an use of the reproaching tongue of an Enemy as of the reproving or comforting tongue of a friend and that hereby the swords of the tongue shall let out the corruption of their soares and doe them good against the will of their Enemies 3. Obs 3. For our words we are responsible before the tribunall of Christ Words passe away in respect of the sound not in respect of the guilt and effect even of idle words men shall give account Matth. 12.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worklesse words which benefit not and administer no grace to the hearer how much more then for hurtfull words If a man may sin by silence how much more by hurtfull speaking The sins of the tongue much dishonour God Of all creatures man alone had the glory of speech bestowd upon him and indeed to what end should an irrationall creature be furnisht with language his tongue was to proclaime his reason and that by setting forth the glory of his Maker Man was made to glorifie God and the tongue is that instrument whereby he should principally doe it To offend God then by the tongue is to fight against him with
they scoff most at piety Religion makes them sport at their Feasts Psalme 35.16 Mockers in Feasts 6. Scorners are the gratest instruments of Satan the main promoters of his cause and advancers of his Kingdome The Hebrew word Scorners according to the LXX is exprest by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 1.1 which signifieth Plagues in the Chair of Plagues because Scorners are plagues to the place where they live and do infect many Scorners are they who sit in the chair Psal 1.1 Prov. 29.8 and are the Doctors of impiety and the Antesignani and ringleaders to all mischief They are the spokesmen and proctors of Satan Nor do any bring such instruments of Cruelty to wound Religion and Religious ones as do Scoffers Mocking is called a Persecution Gal 4.29 and mockings are called cruel mockings Heb. 11. By no devices doth the Divel so much dishearten from Religion and afflict for Religion as by this By no means hath hee more instructed those who would be bad and discouraged others from being good OBSERVATIONS 1. Great is the patience and forbearance of God Observ 1. None but a God would spare those impudent and bitter Scoffers which he is so able to punish Men are under nothing so impatient as under scoffs and derisions How sull of vexation are they when either they have not wit enough to return scoff for scoff or strength enough to return stripes and blowes for scoffs But God is as full of patience to endure Scoffers as of power to confound them Surely God as truly shewes himself a God by sparing as by punishing these his enemies Of this before Part 2. pag. 561. To whom is reserved c. 2. Observ 2. How just will the confusion of Scorners be Nothing is more sutable and deserved then for the impudent in sin to be dashed out of countenance to be beaten with their own weapon The Lord scorneth the Scorners Pro. 3.34 He will mock at the calamities of those when they come who mocked at God before they came None was a more bitter Scoffer at the Godly than that cruel Doctor Story who when the meek and Lamb-like Martyr Fox Martyrolog Missed Mr. Denly was singing a Psalm at the Stake wounded his face by throwing a faggot at it adding this bitter and profane Scoff That be had spoiled a good old Song but never was Mocker so handsomely mock'd for in Queen Elizabeths times hee being beyond Sea Authorized to go on Ship board to search out the Heretical Books as they called them which he hoped to find in the Ship of an English Merchant and going down into lower parts thereof to ransack it for that purpose the hatches were presently clapt downe upon him the Sailes hoised up he brought into England and deservedly for Treason executed at Tyburn 3. It s our duty patiently to carry our selves under mockings Observ 3. It hath been the lot of the Saints in all ages to meet with them Psal 44.14 Thou makest us a by-word among the Heathen Psal 109.25.79.4 Psal 79.4 We are become a reproach and derision to them who are round about us And Psal 109.25 I became a reproach saith David to them Psal 31.1 when they looked upon me they shaked their heads Tertullian tells us That the Christians in his time were mocked for ignorance The Heathens painted the God of the Christians with an Asses head and a Book in his hand to signifie that though they pretended Learning yet they were silly and unlearned people Such who kept the Sabbath were said to have a Disease upon them in regard whereof they were fain to rest once in the week Athanasius was called Sathanasius for being an Adversary to the Arians Cyprian was abused by the name of Coprian one that gathers up dung But why speak I of the mockings which befel Christians they were the portion of Christ himself as I have before shewed Our head was crowned with these thornes they spit in his face gave him a reed for a Scepter bowed before him Though he despised yet he indured the shame Hebr. 12.2 If mocking were the Dyet-drink of Christ should not wee patiently taste now and then a drop thereof yea none can bear so much contempt as God doth daily Besides by impatience under scoffs we hurt our selves more then Scoffers can do If we would not vex and disturb our own souls by impatience our enemies could not hurt us by reproaches and indeed this self-disquieting is the only way to gratifie our enemies whose alone aim by mocking is to trouble and disturb us And by fretfulness and rage we are liable to discover as much evil as our enemies can discover by all their scoffs and though wee are unjustly reproached yet we may discover so much folly and passion as to be a just cause of Reproach We live among Reproachers and Scoffers and without patience we shall never have comfortable lives but the comfort and quiet of our lives will ever lye at the mercy of others The greatest evil of reproach is from him that receives it As it is with meat so it is with mockings It is not the goodness and sweetness of meat in it self that makes it to be good and sweet to me but so it is to me as my stomack and body is affected and scoffs and reproaches are not evils as they come from him that casts them upon us but the greatest part of the evil of reproaches comes from the affection of the receiver Further remember there is more honour in bearing scoffs patiently then there is disgrace in having them cast upon us wrongfully Every fool can cast a reproach but onely the wise man can bear it well Chrysostome tels us That the Reproacher is below a man but the Patient under reproach is equal to an Angel Consider likewise that God takes the care of our names as well as of our souls When Davids enemies spake mischievous things against him hee tells us Psal 38.12 13. that he heard not but vers 15. he saith that God hears The less we hear the more God will hear They who mock here shall bee mocked hereafter and they who are here mocked shall then be honoured And how countervailing a mercy is it to be delivered from eternal Reproach Meditate also how much contempt and mocking many do justly suffer for their sins Many care not how much shame they endure in the service of a base Lust Who are so basely looked upon as the Drunkards Covetous and yet they go on and blesse themselves notwithstanding their reproach What cause have we then to go on in the wayes of God though all the world mock us Consider also what honour God hath put upon thee for the present He hath if thou art Godly brought thee to the honourable estate of Sonship and hath put his glory upon thy soul and hath honoured thee by that neer relation thou hast to Christ How base was Hamans spirit who being so honoured by the
King was so vexed because Mordecai would not bow to him And truly it is a sinful baseness in Saints that when God hath raised them to such glory as to be members of and coheirs with his Son and hath provided for them the glory of Heaven yet for all this when they have but a mock from men to be so discouraged and cast down as if all the honour that God had put upon them were nothing Think likewise how much religion hath been scoft at for your sake and is it so great a matter for you to be mocked for religion Chrysostome saith that when for us our Lord is blasphemed 't is worse then if we perished Consider also the goodnesse of God in keeping in those many secret wickednesses of thy heart from appearing which had they been suffered by God to break forth would have been matter enough of scorn and reproach whereas now the enemies are fain to watch and pry and pump for some occasion yet can hardly find any Remember also that there is more danger in being honored then contemned by men Luther said his greatest fear was the praise of men that reproach was his joy and that he would not have the glory fame of Erasmus Lastly The bearing of scoffs patiently is a great help to our progress in godlinesse As they who have overcome the evil of shame in a way of sin grow hardned in sin so they who regard no reproach cast upon them for holinesse will much proceed therein And that we may beare the cruellest mockings patiently 1. Labour to get good by them If thou seest another so vigilant to find thee out to reproach thee how vigilant shouldst thou be over thy selfe to find out what is in thee to humble thee Psal 119. Herein as David speaks be wiser then thine enemies and the lesse credit thou hast in the world labour for the more in heaven 2. Perswade thy soul of the reality of the honour that is in the waies of God Prov. 18.7 consider thy honour here is real true and hereafter it shall be visible to all 3. Pity your reproachers be troubled for their sin in stead of thine own disgrace 4. Spread thy condition before the Lord when thou art mocked Psal 109.12 prayer was Davids best medicine against mocks 5 Labour for holy magnanimity and greatnesse of spirit Psal 57.2.3 Great men think themselves above reproaches exercise thy soul with the great things of eternity It s a weak spirited man who cannot endure contempt St Johns spirit was so holily high that he calls all the malicious words of Diatrophes but triflings 6. Return not scoffe for scoffe for hereby as you will harden scoffers in their sin 3 John 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for hereby as you will harden scoffers in their sin who will think they do not worse then you and shew that you think there is a greater evil in suffering then sinning so you are put to base shifts as if you thought that you had no other remedy for an ill name but an ill tongue and you deprive your selves of relief from God and ever remember that he who is willingly overcome in the fight of scoffing is ever the better man 7. Keep conscience quiet let not thy heart reproach thee Job 27.6 Winds move not the earth unlesse they get within it be carefull of what you do and then you need not care what men say 4. Obser 4. It s our duty to shun the sin of scoffing especially at the people word and waies of God To this end 1. See the beauty and excellency of them Men deride that which they account base and contemptible let not worldly bravery dazle your eyes Study the glory of holinesse the comlinesse and rationality of every way of God Learning and religion meet with no other mockers but the ignorant 2. Consider Satans end in stirring up mockers against the waies and people of God the divel knowes there is no such likely way to darken religion and to damp the hearts of people from embracing it as by these and therefore it is observable that Julian one of the subtilest enemies that ever the cause of God had would not oppose religion by open persecution but sought all means to cast contempt upon it by jeers and scoffs and hereby he drew off multitudes from it 3. Labour for faith in threatnings faith fears a threatned evil as much as sense mourns under an inflicted evil faith takes into its vast comprehension the threatnings of judgments as wel as the promises of mercies and causeth holy fear in respect of the former as it quells unholy fear in respect of the latter 4. Study the end of Gods forbearance 2 Chron. 36.16 It is not that thou shouldst mock at God but repent of sin Scoffers turne the motive to repentance 25.16 into an incouragement of rebellion God is not long-suffering that the wicked should be securely sinning How unavoidable is his destruction who is ruin'd by the meanes of recovery 5. Study the vanity of all earthly refuges Judgment will throw them down all the overflowing scourge will easily break down these weak banks nor will any fancyed defences appear any other then paper towers when wrath approacheth Ezech. 22.24 Can thy heart endure or thy hands be strong saith God in the day when I shall deal with thee T is not so easie to resist judgments when they come as t is to scoff at them before they come Scoffers when vengeance meets them will be found to be but like cowardly souldiers who though they vaunt and boast and swagger before the enemy comes will run away as soon as they see him come 5. It s our duty to take heed that mockers at our holiness Obs Vlt. hinder us not in the wayes of holinesse Though the clouds darken the light of the Sun yet the Sun ceaseth not its course Was there ever such a fool as to be scoft out of his inheritance and yet it s a greater folly to be scoft out of holiness this will make us a reproach before God Angels and Saints yea and before our very enemies who will when they have got their will of us the more vilifie and contemn us whereas if we persist in holinesse they inwardly admire us They who sought by scoffing to hinder Nehemiahs work would have mockt him much more had they made him to have given it over He that will not suffer scoffes for Gods name shall deservedly suffer it for his own sin The second property of these seducers was their walking after their own ungodly lusts of which I have spoken largely before ver 16. The fifth and last particular in this first direction viz. the remembring the words of the Apostles is the application of their testimony to these seducers ver 19. in these words These are they who separate themselves sensuall having not the spirit In which words the Apostle shewes that these who separate
thereof 1. The groundlesnesse when there is no casting of persons out of the church by an unjust censure of excommunication no departure by unsufferable persecution no heresie nor idolatry in the church maintained no necessity if Communion be held with a Church of communicating in its sins and corruptions 2. The manner of separation makes it unlawfull when 't is made without due endeavour and waiting for reformation of the church from which the departure is and such a rash departure is against charity which suffers both much and long 1 Cor. 13.4 all tolerable things It is not presently distasted when the justest occasion is given it first useth all possible meanes of remedy The Surgeon reserves dismembring as the last remedy It looks upon a sudden breaking off from communion with a church which is a dismembring not as surgery Non medicina sed Laniena non Chirurgia sed Carnificina but but chery not as medicinal but cruel 2. For the second the sinfulnesse of this separation appears several wayes Not to the speak of the sinfulnesse of separation by heresies and prophanness I having in this and the former part of this Commentary shewn it at large before Error of Balaam ver 11. Sunt qui peccatum schismatis adaequent peccato heresis sunt qui illud adhuc prae isto exaggerent Musc loc Com. de schism Aug. Cont. Donat. lib. 2. cap. 6. but briefly to manifest the sinfulnesse of schismatical separation I shall not spend time to compare it with heresie though some have said that Schism is the greater sin of the two Augustin tels the Donatists that Schisme was a greater sin than that of the Traditores who in time of persecution through fear delivered up their bibles to the persecutors to be burnt A sin at which the Donatists took so much offence that it was the ground of their separation But to passe by these things by these three considerations especially the sinfulnesse of Schism shews it selfe In respect of 1. Christ 2. The parties separating 3. Those from whom they separate 1. In respect of Christ it is first an horrible indignity offered to his body it dividing Christ as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 1.15 and makes him to appear the head of two bodyes how monstrous and dishonourable is the very conceit hereof 2. It is rebellion against his Command his great command of love the grace of love is by some call'd the queen of graces and it 's greater then faith in respect of it's object not God only but man its duration which is eternal its manner of working not in a way of receiving Christ as faith but of giving out the soul to him Eph. 4.3 Phil. 2.2 Joh. 13.34 and the command of love is the greatest command in respect of it Comprehensivenesse it taking in all the commandements the end of them all being love and it being the fulfilling of them all 3. Joh. 12.52 It s opposite to one great end of Christs greatest undertaking his death which was that all his Saints should be one 4. It tends to frustrate his prayer for unity among Saints Joh. 17. and endeavours that Christ may not be heard by his father 5. It opposeth his example By this shall all men saith he know that ye are my disciples if ye love one another Love is the Livery and Cognizance which Christ gives to every Christian If there be no fellowship among Christians there 's no following of Christ Let this mind be â—n you that was in Christ Jesus Phil 2 5. 6. It s injurious to his service and worship How can men pray if in wrath and division how can Christians fight with heaven and prevail when they are in so many divided troops Nullum schisma non sibi aliquam confingit haeresim ut recte ab Ecclesiâ recessisse videatur Hierom in Tit. Schisma viam facit ad haeresim et separationem à Christo What worthinesse can be in those Communicants who celebrate a feast of love with hearts full of rancour and malice 2. In respect of the parties separating For 1. It causeth a decay of all grace By divisions among our selves we endeavour to divide our selves from him in and from whom is all our fulnesse All wickednesse follows contention Upon the stock of schism commonly heresie is grafted there is no schism saith Jerome but ordinarily it inventeth and produceth some heresie that so the separation may seem the more justifiable The Nonatians and Donatists from schism fell to heresies our own times sadly comment upon this truth they equally arising to both The farther lines are distanced one from another the greater is their distance from the Center and the more divided Christians are among themselves the more they divide themselves from Christ Branches divided from the tree Anima vivisicat membra cohaerentia non divulsâ— Peccatum schismatis non martyrii sanguine deletur Quo pacto qui animum pro Christo exponis Ecclesiam oppugnes pro quâ animum suam Christus tradidit receive no sap from the root The soul gives life to members which are joyn'd together not pluckt asunder 2. Schism is the greatest disgrace to the schismaticks A schismatick is a name much disowned because very dishonourable All posterity loads the name of sinfull Separatists with disgrace and abhorrency He spake truly who said the sin and misery of schism cannot be bloted out with the blood of martyrdom Hee cannot honorably give his life for Christ who makes divisions in his Church for which Christ gave his life 3. In respect of the Church from which this separation is made For 1. It s injurious to the honor of the Church whose greatest glory is union 3. Cant. 6.9 How can a body be rent and torn without the impairing of its beauty Besides how disgracefull an imputation is cast upon any Church when we professe it unworthy for any to abide in it that Christ will not and therefore that we cannot have communion with it 2 It s injurious to the peace and quietnesse of the Church Schismaticks more oppose the peace of the Church then do heathens If the natural body be divided and torn pain and smart must needs follow The tearing and rending of the mystical bodie goes to the heart of all sensible members They often cause the feaverish distempers of hatred wrath seditions envyings murders Schism in the Church puts the members out of joynt and disjointed bones are painful All my bones saith David are out of joint Church divisions cause sad thoughts of heart true members are sensible of these schisms though artificiall ones feel nothing None rejoyce but our enemies Oh impiety to make Satan musick and to make mourning for the Saints 3. It s opposite to the edification of the Church Division of tongues hindred the building of Babel and doubtlesse division in hearts tongues hands heads must needs hinder the building of Jerusalem while parties are contending Churches and